July 13, 2013 (Part 1)
If you ask someone about the public transportation system in Johannesburg, they will likely tell you there isn't one. The city has a modern rapid rail system connecting Johannesburg to the capital city approximately 70km away (as well as to the airport), but for everyday, around town transit, everyone will tell you the city is in desperate need of a solution. Yet somehow, millions of people get where they need to go everyday, without a car. How is that possible? The answer is simple: a taxi. Now erase the image from your mind of a 4-door car with a "taxi" sign on the roof that provides a metered fair for one passenger/group of passengers all heading to the same place. Replace that picture with a 15-seater mini bus where people are constantly getting on and off at various locations. It's not far off from the type of local transportation one might experience in rural Africa (or many other less developed nations for that matter). The amazing thing is that this system functions, and very well, in the cosmopolitan and developed city of Johannesburg.
I am fascinated by this system; the fact that there are no specific routes, no marked stops, and very limited information available on how to actually use this system, yet millions do, everyday. It operates by a series of hand signals, and when a taxi goes by they "hoot" and if they are going where you are indicating you want to go (enter hand signal), and there is room on board, they stop to collect you.
G was able to find a bit of a pamphlet online that breaks down the symbols and which ones to use to get where.
Heading into town- CBD please! (and yes, that's S back in Joburg for one day/night en-route home to the UK!)
"Shot left" and we're out!
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